


Comm03: Cat Cafe

by KneecapRock



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Cat Cafe, F/F, Queer Friendly, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28911423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KneecapRock/pseuds/KneecapRock
Summary: A woman who dislikes cats finds a job at a local cat cafe... Not her first choice. The cats, and her boss, start to grow on her.This is a SFW story
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Comm03: Cat Cafe

**Comm03: Cat Cafe**

Wildcat Gardens - a quaint cat cafe in downtown Toronto - was bustling as usual. On top of the standard cafe furnishings, there were cat trees scattered about, food and water bowls in a carpeted petting area, and ledges around the walls for adventurous kitties to sit on.

_ These cats are evil. _ Or so Abby believed.  _ They do nothing but make a mess and stink up the back room. And they love to trip me up. _

It had only been three days since she started her job and she already wanted to quit. Of course, there was no other place to offer her a job, and the pay was too good to give up on so soon anyway.

She learned on day one to keep her black hair tied back, lest a cat decided to swipe at - and subsequently yank on - her long locks. The bags under her eyes felt like a permanent feature, especially since she never wore makeup (which was simply a matter of comfort for her).

Howie, a ginger Maine Coon, rubbed up against her leg unexpectedly.

"Oi! Get off, fuzzball!"

The cat simply sat down and looked up at the exhausted woman with wide eyes.

"Out of the way, Howard," Abby scoffed as she stepped over the clingy kitty.

"Howie's really taken a liking to you!" Natalia Rosa - or just Natalia - said to strike up conversation with her new employee.

"He has, unfortunately."

Nat frowned. "Pspspspsps, Howie, c'mon."

Howie scurried away towards Natalia, who was snapping her fingers down by her knees.

"Thanks."

At least her boss was nice - that always helped. Her chestnut hair looked gorgeous in a bob, and she was rarely seen without a smile on her rugged face.

The other employee, Martin, was pretty reserved, but he seemed nice too.

A tiny sneeze took her by surprise, snapping her out of thought and making her flinch instinctually.

"Hey sneezy, get outta here!"

The black and white cat named Gordie began purring, but Abby ignored him and returned to her work.

\---

After about a month of settling in, Abby had finally found her groove. She knew which cats particularly loved attention, which ones had favourite spots to sit, and which ones always -  _ always _ \- found a way to pop up from nowhere and startle her.

"Howard! How many times have we told you to stop biting the plants!" Abby scolded, but Howie continued to nip at the dangling spider plant leaves. "Alright buddy, you're coming with me!"

Straining to pick up the heavy cat, Abby slowly lifted Howie up and away from the plants, then set him near the door to the back room.

"Ughhh…" she groaned as she stretched her aching back.

"He can be a little pest sometimes, can't he?" Natalia mused, leaning up against a wall beside Abby. "Carrying him away just makes him more determined. It's best to offer him something else to do instead."

"Won't he get the message eventually?"

With a grin, Nat simply pointed to the plant, where Howie was already back to munching leaves.

"Oh you little-!"

"It's alright Abby, I'll deal with him."

"Thanks Natalia."

“Oh, by the way,” Natalia added, “your pay cheque’s in the back room.”

Abby watched Natalia stroll over to Howie and coax him away from the plant.  _ She’s so good at this, _ she thought, then headed to the back room.

“Oi, no eating my cheque Gordon,” she warned, despite Gordie resting a few metres away from anything of importance. She took the cheque, and…

“WHAT!?” Poor Gordie was startled by Abby’s outburst, but soon returned to a cozy seat in his bed.

_ Payment to Abby Morel. January 29, 2021. $6,973.55 CAD _

She read and reread again.

_ There must be a typo! Could it be a prank? No, Natalia’s not the type for pranks. Typo for sure, then. _

“Abby, Abby are you hurt!?” Rushing in came Natalia, eyes wide.

“N-no, I was just surprised, sorry…”

Natalia sighed in relief.

“It’s just, there’s a big typo on my check.”

“Oh crap, I’m so sorry! Where is it?” Natalia asked as she tried to catch her breath.

“The number.”

Natalia paused, rereading it all herself. “I can’t see a typo.”

“Wait, what!? But that’s like, almost 3 months pay! It’s only been a month!” Abby burst.

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t mention… You get 30% of this month’s profits. You, me, and Martin split it 30-30-30, and the remaining 10% goes to rainy-day savings. The minimum wage is only the minimum, in the case of little or no profits for the month.”

Mouth agape, Abby simply stood there.

“I don’t go around advertising it anymore, because… well, it’s complicated. Anyway, I’m sorry for the confusion.”

“I- but… Thank you so much, Natalia… this is life changing…” Tears began welling up in Abby’s eyes.

\---

“Hey lady, your cat here tried to eat my bagel!” An elderly customer snickered.

“I’m so sorry about that!” Natalia apologised, rushing over to the man’s table and lifting up the cat. “Come on Ingie, you’ve got food down here.”

“Bloody cats are a health and safety hazard,” he scoffed.

“I’ll get you another bagel. I’m so sorry.”

The man aggressively grabbed Natalia by the shoulder and spun her around. “No, I want to speak to the manager!”

“I  _ am _ the manager.”

“Bloody useless, don’t lie to me girl. Bloody cat could’ve given me rabies or-”

Having heard the commotion from the back room, Abby had arrived at the scene. “Hey man, do you even know what this is? This is a cat cafe for gods’ sake! Don’t like the cats? Go to one of the countless coffee shops around without any! Wait for your bagel patiently or get out!”

Natalia had never heard Abby speak so forcefully before. The way she spoke to the cats was playful in comparison to this.  _ She must be genuinely angry, _ Natalia thought.

“Harumph! You’ll be hearing from my lawyers!” The man shouted before huffing away.

Before Abby could say another word, Natalia had already rushed into the back room. She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.

Part of her was glad when Abby came through the door, but she still felt embarrassed to be seen crying because of a loud customer.

“Oh Natalia…” Abby exhaled. “That guy was a jackass. If he shows up again or raises hell against you, I’ll be here for you. I won’t let him anywhere near you, ok? I’ll make sure of that.”

“Thank you so much Abby…” Natalia took a deep breath and wiped away the tears. “May I have a hug?”

Abby instinctively looked away to hide her blushing cheeks, but Natalia noticed nonetheless.

“Y-yeah, of course!” Abby squeaked, visibly flustered.

The two shared in a long, comforting hug.

\---

After-hours on a Friday, about seven weeks after beginning, Abby sat alone at a table with a piping hot tea. Occasionally, she would turn away from her phone to gaze through the window, watching the falling snow as it was illuminated by the street lights.

'I don't care. Don't bother returning tonight. Your shit will be on the curb tomorrow morning,' read a text from her landlord.

"Fuck…" Abby mumbled.

"Aaaang!" Howie couldn't meow, but he  _ could _ cry for attention. "Aaaang! Brrr!"

"Oh Howard…" Abby was choking up. "You'll wake the others up y-you noisy jerk…"

Howard half-jumped, placing his foremost paws on Abby's leg.

"Oh, fine, you great orange hairball, up you come." She patted her lap, and Howie jumped up. "OOF! You're heavy you know!"

Howie purred loudly, looking up with dopey, blinking eyes.

Hesitantly, Abby lowered her hand onto Howie's head and began petting.

Abby heard a gentle knock near the register.

"Hey," Natalia greeted as she stepped out from near the back room. "I see you've got a little friend here!"

"Brrr!" Howie cooed, as if knowing Natalia was talking about him.

"Ugh… you didn't see that, did you?" Abby groaned.

"Only the part where you let Howie onto your lap. Well, and the bit where you oh-so-lovingly chose to pet his head!" Natalia teased.

"No, I j-just wanted him to shut up…"

Natalia saw right through that obvious lie, but more importantly, she noticed Abby was crying. "Oh no, Abby are you alright?" Her tone had changed instantly.

"No. My landlord’s evicting me, and he won't even let me back to sleep there tonight."

"What!? What a cruel asshole…"

"He's throwing my stuff to the curb tomorrow morning…"

Natalia watched a tear roll off Abby's chin, then clenched her teeth.

"You're staying with me as long as you need," Natalia boomed. "I've got room for another body upstairs, and like hell am I going to let a friend go homeless."

Abby had forgotten the cafe was on the ground floor of a townhouse.

"Natalia… th-thank you so much…" Abby couldn't hold back the sobs any longer.

"Oh Abby, I’ve got you. Don’t worry hon, I’m here for you."

\---

"So this is where they wander off to," Abby mused to herself. She had just been shown into Natalia's apartment, and she already had three mewling kitties at her feet.

"Oh yeah, I have a cat flap. Sorry about that, I know you aren't too fond of them." 

"N-no, it's fine."

"Shoo, make way. You too Percy, c’mon," Natalia directed the cats further into her apartment. "I've got a spare mattress you can use, but it'll have to go out here in the living room."

Together, they hauled the mattress out from Natalia’s bedroom, got some blankets, and decided to call it a night.

Abby was almost asleep when her attention was grabbed by a pressure on her outstretched arm. Face to face with her was Howie, who was sprawled out on her arm.

“Howard!” She whispered.

“Brrr!” Howie acknowledged.

“Shhh! Natalia’s sleeping! Now get off!”

“Mmm,” Howie mumbled quietly.

Abby sighed and lifted up the covers. Howie immediately moved closer, then curled up next to her.

\---

Abby awoke to the welcoming aroma of toast and coffee. As she came to her senses, she noticed that Gordie, Ingie, Percy, and Spotty had all joined her and Howie on the mattress.

“Oi! Who invited you lot?” Abby said sleepily. “Up and at ‘em furballs, I’m getting up now.”

Not one kitty moved a muscle.

Natalia chuckled. “Well, guess that’s where you’re going to spend eternity, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Abby said, exasperated.

Natalia walked over to the bag of cat food she kept in her apartment and gave it a good shake. “Ok everyone, food time!”

And just like that, they all got up and booked it towards their dishes.

After grabbing a quick breakfast, Abby hopped in Natalia’s tiny, rusting pickup truck to gather her belongings.

“Thank you so much Natalia… I can’t express how thankful I am!”

“Any time! If I may ask, why’d you get kicked out?”

“My landlord knows I’m a leftist, so he thinks I’ve been the one stealing all the tenants’ shit. ‘Fuckin’ communists amirite!’”

“UGH that’s ridiculous! I’m so sorry… Everyone here thinks everyone else is a damned soviet. You know our pay system? I don’t go around advertising it like I used to because we started getting vandalised to the point it was putting the cats at risk. People were breaking in and leaving dog poo, destroying stuff, leaving threats they’d kill the cats… they called us communists and told us to get out of the country… told me to ‘go back to China…’ My family came here from the Philippines less than a year after I was born. I’ve been here my whole life!”

“Fucking hell, I didn’t know that… I’m so sorry, Natalia. You’re so kind, you don’t deserve any of that… Oh, here it is,” Abby pointed to a building with a stack of boxes on the curb. “Let’s get this over with.”

\---

It only took about another two weeks for them to decide to make their living arrangement a bit more permanent. In a short few months, Abby’s life had changed completely: new job, new apartment, new roommate, new routine. During her lunch break one day, she reflected on her time with Natalia, Martin, and the cats.

Having a roommate to split rent with greatly helped Natalia, and it saved Abby the trouble of hunting for apartments. And besides: they quite enjoyed each other's company. Most nights together were spent doing puzzles, or playing board games, or simply sharing a coffee together.

"Can I have a seat?" Natalia's voice pulled Abby out of thought.

"Oh, yeah of course," Abby replied.

Natalia placed a tea on the booth table in front of Abby, then sat across from her. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…" She paused. "I can't get my mind off something, that's all."

"Oh? Is it a good or bad thing?"

"Very good." Abby smiled without realising.

"Whoever they are must be quite something~"

"Wha-!? How did you know I was-!?"

"I didn't, but now you've told me!" Natalia grinned teasingly.

Equal parts horror and embarrassment radiated off Abby's flushed face. Her eyes refused to look anywhere besides the steaming cup of tea in front of her.

_ No! I'm gonna be brave! I'm gonna tell her! _

"Natalia, I- um, do you, er- would you like to go out? Um, with me?" Abby said with her eyes shut tight.

"Yes! I'd love to, Abby!"

Slowly, Abby opened one eye. "R-really?"

“Really! And you really would take me as your girlfriend, too?”

“Y-yes! I’d love that!”

Abby looked up at her new girlfriend, who was beaming ear to ear. Abby didn’t even realise she was, too.


End file.
